Text Luke Changing the way we THINK about Christmas. Original Delivery December 1, 2013

Transcription

1 Author Gary Johnson Text Luke Title Changing the way we THINK about Christmas Type/Season Christmas Original Delivery December 1, 2013 Introduction A billboard appeared on the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel in 2010, for which the association American Atheists paid $20,000 for hundreds of thousands of people to see as they drove into downtown New York to work or shop during the Christmas season (show billboard). Soon after it went up, another billboard was erected on the New York side of the Lincoln Tunnel. This one was paid for by the Catholic League of America and as people emerged from the tunnel they were greeted with the message that responded to that of the American Atheists. 1 It seems there is a battle going on in our culture over Christmas. These billboards are a strong indication that Americans have differing beliefs regarding Christmas; differences that put us at odds with others. But there is another battle raging over Christmas and it is not between people so much as it is within people; specifically, within each of us. Regretfully, many of us are oblivious to the Christmas war within us. So, for the next few weeks, we are going to explore the war; not the culture war over Christmas, but the war within each of us as individual Christians when it comes to Christmas. Think new and improved. Coined in the earlier years of television, new and improved is an American advertising phrase that doesn t make sense. How can something be both new and improved? It s pretty obvious that we can t improve on something new because improving something implies that it already exists. Yet, this phrase will actually work this month as we each consider Christmas. So, keep the phrase new and improved in the forefront of our thoughts as we work through a text. Luke 2:25-39 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel. The child s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too. There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him. This is a part of Christ s birth story that is not often read or told. Yet, there are some powerful insights in this story that reveal the Christmas war within us. Some things stand out in this story. 1 See: and 1 P a g e

2 The People Some people stand out in this story. Obviously, Joseph and Mary do, and they stand out because of what they were doing. As a young married couple, Joseph and Mary were doing what was good and right as followers of God. The parents of Jesus were not spiritual renegades. They loved God and it shows in how they lived. After the birth of Jesus, they took Him to be circumcised when He was eight days old, and then after forty days had passed, Joseph and Mary appeared at the Temple in Jerusalem for two purposes: Mary s purification before God and Jesus dedication to God. These practices were important parts of the Jewish faith. Notice that the sacrifice they brought was two doves or pigeons, which was in keeping with Leviticus 12:6-8. Typically, a lamb was offered but the Old Testament stated if those offering the sacrifice were poor, they could offer the birds as lesser expensive sacrifices. This implies that Joseph and Mary did not have a great deal of money. Joseph was a carpenter, a laborer who loved his wife, son and His God. Joseph and Mary had very little, but little did they understand that they had everything. Though their lives would be marked with shortages, there was something that Mary would experience and it would never be in short supply. Mary would know suffering. Simeon said, And a sword will pierce your own soul. Mary will feel a mother s pain as she would witness the rejection and murder of her Son. The word that is used for sword means a large, broad sword; she would feel intense pain, suffering, and anguish. Simeon s comment even had a broader inference in that anyone who associates with Jesus will experience suffering in this life. Two other people stand out who were not young like Joseph and Mary, but were considerably older. Simeon and Anna happened to be at the Temple when Mary and Joseph arrived with Baby Jesus. Like Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna were God-followers. It is said of Simeon that he was righteous and devout, meaning that he conducted his life in such a way that he won the respect of people and God s favor. The words that Simeon spoke indicate that he was an old man, and Anna may have been even older. Notice in the text that she was a widow, living without her husband for eighty-four years. If she married at the earliest age allowed, which was thirteen, her husband died when she was twenty (i.e., seven years), after which time she lived as a widow for eighty-four years. If we do the math, Anna could have been as old as 104 years! Both of these elderly people had a vibrant walk with God, and something was heavy on their hearts. The Plea Notice that Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel, while Anna was waiting for the redemption of Israel. Those two people, along with countless others, had been waiting for God to rescue Israel. In Luke 1:68-75, Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist) spoke of God rescuing the nation of Israel. For centuries, people prayed and cried out to God to rescue them. Even 700 years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah the prophet wrote again and again about the coming of the Messiah. Why? Conditions were horrific in Israel at the time of Jesus birth. There was a loss of political independence as they lived in bondage to Rome. Cruel King Herod was in control of the nation, and he ruled with an iron fist, killing anyone and everyone who got in his way. In addition to Herod s control was that of the Pharisees. They made life miserable for the Jews, imposing rule upon rule on the common people. Then there were the wealthy Sadducees who controlled the Temple, and their love of money made them corrupt and evil. On top of this, by the time Jesus was born, God had not spoken to His people in four hundred years! There was a period of silence spanning four centuries between the Old and New Testaments. Why was life so bad that the Jews had to cry out to God so often? That brings us to The Problem When God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He warned them of what would become a deeply rooted problem in their lives. But, as was often the case, they refused to listen to God and what told them would happen, did. 2 P a g e

3 Deuteronomy 8:11-14 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. That is exactly what happened. The Israelites forgot God. They abandoned God to follow after the idols of wealth, prosperity, work, sex and more. Because they turned to idols, God turned them over to their enemies. He allowed them to be carried off into exile not once, but twice; first by the Assyrians and then by the Babylonians. Jerusalem was destroyed, including the Temple. There were centuries of darkness and despair. For hundreds of years, thousands upon thousands of people prayed crying out to God for the consolation of Israel, for her redemption. The Perspective Once aged-anna saw the Baby Jesus, she knew she had seen the Messiah, the Promised One. Moreover, she spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. There were others at the Temple that day, and out in the streets and the market who were looking forward to the rescue of Jerusalem by the Messiah. Those individuals were had the right perspective, the right focus. Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord s Messiah. He kept looking for the Messiah. Simeon, like aged-anna, had the right perspective, the right focus until the very end of his life. [segue] How does this little-known story from the time of Christ s birth speak into our lives? What insights does it hold for us? People Just as in this story, we have a wide range of people here at The Creek. Like Mary and Joseph, we have young married couples, many who have started their families and have young children. Like Anna and Simeon, there are many people at The Creek who are in the autumn season of life; and there are many people in between those age extremes. Moreover, like Mary and Joseph, and Simeon and Anna, many of us are God-followers. Yet, just as there was a problem in their day, we must admit to a Problem Soon after God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt, they forgot God. When we surrender our lives to Christ and He frees us from our slavery to sin, it is not long before we forget the Lord. Just as Israel followed idols, we do the same. The first commandment out of God s Top Ten List reads that we are to have no other gods before God because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God Just as a husband or a wife would be jealous of another person trying to steal their spouse, God is jealous of other gods when they take us away from Him. God, who spoke all of the universe into existence, deeply connects Himself to each of us and He aches when we reject Him for others. Idolatry is not to be a part of our lives, yet it is. When we hear the word idol, we think of a carved statute. I will long remember my first trip to India, where I saw hundreds and hundreds of carved idols, so small they could fit in the palm of the hand to one that was so large it stood as tall as a three-story building. Moreover, I saw countless numbers of people kneeling in front of the idols, touching and kissing them. That s what we think of when we think idolatry. Yet, America like India is full of idols, little gods. To try and grasp the enormity of this problem, try to remember that our idols typically fall into three primary groups: g.o.d. G for Grab This is our stuff, that which we grab with our hands. This is what we buy, that which we own. This is the materialistic aspect of our lives. Just think how we worship our cell phones. Do you feel anxious when your cellphone isn't within reach? Do you always need to keep your cellphone on? Do you keep checking for missed calls, s, and texts? If so, you may suffer from nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone (i.e., no 3 P a g e

4 mobile phone). The ever popular television show Hoarders is a reflection of this category of idols in our lives. Most people who watch Hoarders have the same reaction: we can't believe that people just won't let go of all the stuff that's ruining their lives. Unfortunately, most of us fail to see that we all tend to be hoarders, grabbing and holding on to that which we own. We worship the idol of comfort. O for Over Do This is what we do in life. It s all of that frenetic activity that keeps us burning the proverbial midnight oil. It s activity in our lives that is out of control. For example, it may be that we have made an idol out of our work, out of our hobbies, particularly out of sports. A commercial aired a few years ago that expresses well how sports can become an idol in our lives. Advertising a video game, an athlete appearing on a football field says: Every Sunday, when American goes to church, we go to war. While they pray for salvation, we play for survival. This is our cathedral. This game is our religion. And every religion has its judgment day. (Play 30-second clip-- D for Desires This is all that we want in life; that for which we are striving and reaching. We desire success, so pride and ego have become our idols. We want to be popular. We crave authority and power. We want the approval of others. We desire that which is sensual and lust has become an idol. We desire revenge, wanting to hurt those who have hurt us. The list is long. Particularly at Christmas. It that season of the year when all three of these categories blaze with life. Our idolatry is off the chart! We GRAB all that we can, tearing open one gift after another in a frenzy that ends with some children (of all ages) asking, Is that all there is? We continually think and live for the next THING, and that pursuit of things is idolatry, particularly at Christmas. We OVER DO at Christmas, from entertaining to gift-giving; and why? We DESIRE the approval and applause of others. Our idolatry is of the chart during this season of the year. Jesus came to bring peace, but at this time of year, too many families and friends end up being at war with one another. Jesus came to help the poor and the needy, but we keep buying things with money we do not have to impress people we do not like and sometimes do not like us at this time of year. Now let s pull from the forefront of our minds the phrase: new and improved. What if we changed the way we THINK about Christmas this year? What if we had an entirely NEW way of thinking about this favorite holiday of the year? If we have a NEW way of thinking about Christmas, we would experience an IMPROVED way of observing Christmas! We want to take Christmas back from our culture. It was ours to begin with and we have allowed it to become what it was never intended to be. It has happened on our watch, and we must be intentional as Christ-followers to take Christmas back while we are still on our watch. If we THINK that Christmas is out of control in your family and mine, we might be willing to admit that we ve made Christmas into something that was never intended to be. It was never meant to be a holiday with out-of-control spending and over-extended schedules only to impress people in an over-the-top manner. Idolatry is at the heart of that kind of Christmas, a Christmas gone amuck. Plea Like Simeon and Anna, are we LONGING for Jesus this Christmas? They didn t need or want a new winter wardrobe or the latest electronic gadget. They wanted the Messiah. Only Jesus could fill the painfully empty ache in their lives. Nothing has changed, and thank God, Jesus has not changed. He can still fill every empty, broken life if we long for Him to do so. It s not so much WHAT we want for Christmas, but WHO. Christmas can be both new and improved if we THINK differently about why we have Christmas in the first place, and it has everything to do with Jesus having first place in our lives. In 1872, the poet Christina Rossetti wrote a poem that only appeared after her death. About thirty years later the poem was set to music and titled "A Christmas Carol." Today, we know it as a Christmas hymn called "In the Bleak Midwinter." 4 P a g e

5 But there's a fascinating back-story to this beloved Christmas carol. Rossetti was a devoted follower of Christ who for many years volunteered at the St. Mary Magdalene "house of charity," a refuge for women coming out of a life of prostitution. In the Victorian Era of her day, economic forces often caused women to eke out a living by selling their bodies. Some of the "women" were only twelve years old when they were forced into prostitution if they hoped to eat. Rossetti's efforts in offering Christ and helping find better jobs for these marginalized women came through in some of her poems. For instance, this Christmas carol pictures a Savior who entered our world of suffering and brokenness a world much like "the bleak mid-winter" of Rossetti's native England. "Heaven cannot hold nor earth sustain" Jesus, and yet "a stableplace" and "a manger full of hay" sufficed for him. In light of Christ's great power and love, Rossetti's poem asks: What can I give Him, Poor as I am? This question would have weighed heavily on women struggling to come out of a life of prostitution and poverty. With their broken lives, what could they possibly give to Jesus, especially since "Heaven cannot hold him? According to Rossetti's poem, there is one thing that all of us can give Jesus, no matter who we are. She wrote what people still sing to this day: If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb, If I were a wise man I would do my part, Yet what I can I give Him, Give my heart. Regardless of our tainted past or our present struggles, there is one gift that Christ wants more than anything our hearts. No matter who we are or where we've been, we can give him our lives. Once and for all and with no strings attached, let s all long for Jesus this Christmas. POST MESSAGE a time for confession and repentance. Resources Consulted Bock, Darrell. New InterVarsity Press Commentary: Luke Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, Bock, Darrell NIV Application Commentary: Luke Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, Hendriksen, William. Luke Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, Larson, Bruce. The Communicator s Commentary: Luke Waco, TX: Word Books, Copyright 2013 by Dr. Gary L. Johnson. All materials presented by Dr. Johnson uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way, except that you may print or download one copy of the material for your personal, noncommercial home use only, provided that 1) you retain all copyright, trademark and propriety notices, 2) you make no modifications to the materials. For any uses other than this, written permission is required. (e2: effective elders c/o Dr. Gary L. Johnson; 6430 S Franklin Road Suite A, Indianapolis, IN 46259). 5 P a g e